Clue #2: The Governorship of Pontius Pilate

We know from other sources when he served as governor of Judea--A.D. 26 to A.D. 36--so we can narrow down the range by several years.

But how are we going to get it down to a specific day and year?

Clue #3: After "the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius Caesar"

The Gospel of Luke tells us when the ministry of John the Baptist began:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar . . . the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness [Luke 3:1-2].

This picks out a specific year: A.D. 29.

Since all four gospels depict the ministry of Christ beginning after that of John the Baptist had begun (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, John 1), this means that we can shave a few more years off our range.

The death of Christ had to be in a range of seven years: between A.D. 29 and 36.

We know that it was a Friday because it is referred to as "the day of preparation"--that is, the day on which Jews made the preparations they needed for the Sabbath, since they could not do any work on that day. Thus thus cooked food in advance and made other necessary preparations.

The Jewish Encyclopedia states:

Friday, as the forerunner of Shabbat, is called "'Ereb Shabbat" (The Eve of Sabbath). The term "'ereb" admits of two meanings: "evening" and "admixture" (Ex. xii. 38); and "'Ereb Shabbat" accordingly denotes the day on the evening of which Sabbath begins, or the day on which food is prepared for both the current and the following days, which latter is Sabbath.

The idea of preparation is expressed by the Greek name paraskeué, given by Josephus ("Ant." xvi. 6, § 2) to that day (compare Mark xv. 42; Luke xxiii. 54; Matt. xxvii. 62; John xix. 42). In Yer. Pesaḥim iv. 1 the day is called "Yoma da-'Arubta" (Day of Preparation) [Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v., "Calendar"].

That eliminates six of the days of the week, but there were still quite a few Fridays between A.D. 29 and 36.

Can we figure out which one?

Clue #5: A Friday at Passover

Here we encounter a momentary complication, because Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe the Last Supper on Holy Thursday as a Passover meal (Matthew 26:19, Mark 14:14, Luke 22:15). That would suggest that Good Friday was the day after Passover.

However, when describing the morning of Good Friday, John indicates that the Jewish authorities had not yet eaten the Passover meal:

Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium [i.e., Pilate's palace]. It was early. They themselves did not enter the Praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover. So Pilate went out to them [John 18:28-29a].

That suggests that the Passover would have begun on sundown Friday.

There are a number of ways of resolving this. For example, some have suggested that Jesus and his disciples used a different calendar than the Jewish authorities, and we know that there were different calendars in use in first century Judaism.

It's also possible that Jesus just advanced the date of the Passover celebration for him and his disciples. I mean, they were already convinced he was the Messiah and the Son of God. If he says, "We're celebrating Passover today," and it's a day earlier than most people, they'd just go with that. (Note that he made other modifications to the ceremony, such as instituting the Eucharist in the midst of it.)

And there are other solutions.

However, regardless of what Jesus' movement did, we can look to John's statement about the Jesus' captors as an indication of what the Jewish authorities or the mainstream Jewish practice was: They were celebrating a Passover beginning on what we would call Friday evening.

That lets us narrow down the range of possible dates to just a few. Here is a complete list of the days between A.D. 29 and 36 on whose evenings Passover began:

Monday, April 18, A.D. 29

Friday, April 7, A.D. 30

Tuesday, March 27, A.D. 31

Monday, April 14, A.D. 32

Friday, April 3, A.D. 33

Wednesday, March 24, A.D. 34

Tuesday, April 12, A.D. 35

Saturday, March 31, A.D. 36

As you can see, we have just two candidates left: Jesus was either crucified on April 7 of A.D. 30 or April 3 of A.D. 33.

Which was it?

The traditional date is that of A.D. 33. You will find quite a number of people today advocating the A.D. 30 date.

Do the gospels let us decide between the two?

Clue #6: John's Three Passovers

The Gospel of John records three different Passovers during the ministry of Jesus:

Passover #1: This is recorded in John 2:13, near the beginning of Jesus' ministry.

Passover #2: This is recorded in John 6:4, in the middle of Jesus' ministry.

Passover #3: This is recorded in John 11:55 (and frequently mentioned afterwards), at the end of Jesus' ministry.

That means that the ministry of Jesus had to span something over two years. A fuller treatment would reveal that it spanned about three and a half years, but even if we assume it began immediately before Passover #1, the addition of two more Passovers shows that it lasted more than two years at a bare minimum.

That means the A.D. 30 date is out.

There is not enough time between the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar--A.D. 29--and the next year's Passover to accomodate a ministry of at least two years.

The numbers don't add up.

As a result, the traditional date of Jesus' death--Friday, April 3, A.D. 33--must be regarded as the correct one.

Comments

Mark and John are at odds with each other as to the time of the death of Jesus. It is not likely at all that Jesus was observing a different calendar than the mainstream Jews of the day. Only fringe groups used different calendars and it is not likely Jesus would not follow the mainstream - he was a Jew after all. Only Mark says the “9th hour” and John says a different hour - so which one is true?

Posted by Jim on Monday, Jun 3, 2013 12:34 AM (EDT):

Go to this link and watch the video series concerning the year. Seems like this gentleman has an air tight case. Addresses all of These issues and introduces some interesting concepts.

http://www.wake-up.org/Videos/DanielVideos.htm

The Jubilee Calendar

The books of Daniel and Revelation have a number of prophetic time periods that are based on the operation of the Jubilee Calendar. This segment also examines Daniel 9, that is, the timing of the 70 weeks.

Flash Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

MP4 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

Posted by Robert Podesfinski on Saturday, May 18, 2013 4:36 AM (EDT):

The amazing part of the Gregorian Calendar is how accurate it was even though it was created by men who were armed only with telescopes and past knowledge of the skies. It set an extra day every four years, except for years ending in 00 that were evenly divisible by 400 (in which the leap year was skipped.)
Also called the New Style Calendar, it has had only minor corrections by scientists to correct for the earth’s “wobble.”

It was the Venerable Bede in the eighth century who pointed out that the new moons were falling three days earlier than at the time of the Council of Nicea. By the time of the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1581, the Equinox es were falling 11 days earlier. Yet Little Dennis’s tables were still used in the West to calculate the date of Easter

Posted by Robert Podesfinski on Thursday, May 16, 2013 10:46 PM (EDT):

While we might joke about calendars, a fellow at a restaurant told me May 13 that one of his friends told him that he had just finished celebrating Greek Orthodox Easter. Imagine! The western Roman church was about to celebrate Pentecost when the Orthodox celebrate Easter. The Orthodox use the Julian Calendar. For many years, the Soviet Union used the Julian Calendar which is why they celebrate the October 1917 communist revolution during November.

During the Medieval Ages, the Roman Catholic Church invested a lot of energy in scientists who scanned the nighttime sky so it could accurately predict when Easter Sunday should be celebrated. I recommend the book “The Discoverers” to anyone interested.

Posted by Jeremy on Thursday, May 16, 2013 3:29 PM (EDT):

Is that by the Julian Calendar, the Gregorian Calendar, or the Lord Chesterfield Calendar?
.
Or maybe the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar?

Posted by bobpodes on Thursday, May 2, 2013 10:09 PM (EDT):

Let me be very clear. Two types of eclipses exist: a “solar eclipse”—when the moon blocks the rays of the sun—and a “lunar eclipse—when the earth blocks the sunlight from the moon, also called an eclipse of the moon.
It is impossible for a solar eclipse to take place during a full moon as you have stated. But that is not what I wrote. I mentioned a “lunar eclipse”—which I personally have witnessed several times. An full eclipse of the moon takes place only during full moon. That is Passover.

In a “lunar eclipse” the earth blocks the rays of the sun from shining on the moon for about one or two hours or so. As the earth casts its giant shadow on the moon, the sunlight reaching the moon gets red because the sunlight is filtered through the earth’s atmosphere. To an observer, the moon is getting redder and redder, like blood, and then it loses all light from the sun.

“Now it is extremely possible that the darkness was due to a lunar eclipse”

No, it is absolutely impossible. The Passover falls on the day of the full moon, when the sun and moon are 180 degrees or 12 hours apart, on opposite sides of the earth. Lunar eclipses can only occur at the time of the new moon, when the sun and moon are in conjunction (have the same right ascension)

Posted by bobpodes on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 3:25 PM (EDT):

The Gospels do not mention a lunar eclipse. Jesus died between 3 PM to 5 PM based upon the times given in the gospel accounts translating the Jewish way of measuring a day to modern times. All that is mentioned in the Gospel is a darkness fell over the land.
Now it is extremely possible that the darkness was due to a lunar eclipse, but because of the time of day when Jesus died, 5 PM, would that have surprised a Roman soldier to say “Surely this man was the son of God?” It is possible. I imagined a gathering of dark clouds covering the sun because, at 5 PM during the day, the sun is the major light source.
However, I did not know about the partial lunar eclipse of 30 AD and the full lunar eclipse of 33 AD. I can see the spiritual significance of a full lunar eclipse since the Jewish religion based itself upon the moon and its cycles. I appreciate knowing that.
If a full lunar eclipse took place, I would have expected one of the four gospel writers, all Jewish knowing its Jewish significance, would have mentioned it. Perhaps they were distracted because a small earthquake took place and the curtain in the Jewish temple was torn in half, which they did recall.
The year zero is an invention of the Christian Faith. But whether Jesus was 33 or 34 by our standards is close enough to me. One retired priest who conducted a Bible class said that in the past, Roman culture and other Greek and Mid East cultures believed that for persons who did heroic deeds like Julius Caesar died exactly on the day of their birth. The exact date of birth—like the physical description of a person including Jesus—was not considered important to write down.

Posted by Darren Szwajkowski on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 2:16 PM (EDT):

@FM: Based on Aiken’s analysis, Jesus was 33 years old when he died. He was born in 2 BC and died in 33 AD. There is no 0 year. He did not have his birthday before he died in 33 AD. So 33-(-2) = 35 but there was no 0 year, so 35-1 = 34 and Jesus did not have his birthday yet in 33 AD, therefore, 34-1 = 33. There is a reason for tradition.
Also, based on the show “The Star of Bethlehem”, astronomy software gives two dates has to when there was a lunar eclipse. But the April 3, 33 AD lunar eclipse was a full lunar eclipse where as the one on April 7, 30 was only a partial one. With knowledge of Keplar’s law of planetary physics, the April 3, 33 AD fits. Faith and science do not contradict each other.
This are both two beautiful analyses. My favorite idea from the “Star of Bethlehem” was the fact that “when God created the world, He knew when He would come into this world and leave the world. The planetary motions were set from the moment that God flung the world into existance. The alignment of the stars, the planets was done with one goal. When Christ would come into the world and when Christ would leave the world.”
Awesome. Just plain awesome.

Posted by Jason G. Hull on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 4:32 AM (EDT):

The reason so many people have a problem with the idea that Jesus celebrated the Passover a day early is because He did NOT celebrate the Passover a day early. All the evidence you need can be found here: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/Luke_Gospel/Luke_Lesson_14.htm

Also, concerning the dating of Christ’s birth and crucifixion, I have a document for everyone to consider as well: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/documents/dating the birth of jesus of nazareth.htm

This would indicate that Jesus was crucified in 30 AD. That is significant because that would make it approximately 40 years between the Ascension and the destruction of the temple, mirroring the time of preparation in the desert of Israel before entering into the Holy Land.

Posted by Leo Higgins on Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 9:00 PM (EDT):

A lot of folks here have problems with the fact that Jesus celebrated the Seder a day early. His reason for this should be obvious: He knew that He would be DEAD by the following sundown, making the eating of the Seder at the “proper” time impossible. But all this was of no consequence for Him anyway; His sacrifice commenced that night and into the entire next period of daylight hours was a fulfillment of the whole point to what the Passover actually symbolized.

Besides, why would it matter to Him if He “changed the rules” regarding the proper time to eat the Pasch, when, during that meal, He changed the ritual, too? No lamb is mentioned in the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, precisely because He Himself is the true lamb, and His changing of the bread into His Body is substituted for the lamb! There are no bitter herbs mentioned, either, because His passion, already begun, really, was a fulfillment of them. If Jesus was prepared to go “off script” with regard to the food used at a normal Seder, it should be no real problem to consider that He could also anticipate the celebration of the Seder by a full day for the practical reason that He would not be “available” to eat it the next night because He had just fulfilled its entire meaning on the cross.

Posted by Leo Higgins on Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 8:40 PM (EDT):

For Robert Podesfinski:

I’d like to address a couple of things you brought up.

First, it is not true that Passover always fell on a Friday. It was always commenced at sundown on the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and that could rotate all through the days of the week, in just the same way that Christmas, December 25th, can fall on any day of the week in our calendar.

Second, your concern about the different date of the start of a year in the Julian calendar doesn’t really affect anything discussed here. The difference was consistent, and can be accounted for astronomically. Since the values of the difference are known, it is not hard for chroniclers of ancient events to attribute an equivalent date in the Gregorian calendar. But, in any event, the issues here really don’t have much to do with the Julian calendar anyway. The only calendar that needs to be harmonized with the Gregorian when it comes to the events of the Passion is the Hebrew calendar. And we can line-up that lunar-based calendar with our solar-based one with equal precision as found matching the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

Posted by Linda Leonard on Monday, Apr 29, 2013 1:10 AM (EDT):

The Galileans were allowed to celebrated Passover on Thursday!

Posted by Aloysius Duque on Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 9:59 PM (EDT):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJUNionX6o8

Posted by Robert Podesfinski of Portland OR on Saturday, Apr 27, 2013 1:39 AM (EDT):

It would make a lot of sense that Jesus was crucified on Passover Day and Jewish leaders delayed their religious celebration. Normally, the purpose of Roman crucifixion was to display the bodies of the crucified for several days to show people that Rome had power over life and death. A good example of that was when Spartacus the slave and hundred of slaves who rebelled against Rome were crucified in Italy. The purpose of crucifixion was to increase the amount of time the condemned suffered pain. The reason why the two thiefs and Jesus’s body was taken down the same day was because Pontius Pilate, Roman governor, did not want to offend the Jews on their highest holy day so he would not encourage a revolt.

Posted by Greg B. on Friday, Apr 26, 2013 11:39 PM (EDT):

There are about 4 million comments posted before mine at this point, which I definitely don’t have the time to read all of. So, if this has been mentioned already, my apologies. But is it possible that when John mentions the Jewish authorities not wanting to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover, as if they hadn’t done so yet, that the reason why they hadn’t done so on Thursday night was that they had been too preoccupied with preparing to put Jesus on trial, etc. to be able to celebrate the feast? So, it was still pending for them?

I know this would have been “technically incorrect.” By early Friday morning, Passover would have officially been over. But given the way the Jewish authorities tended to dodge other prescriptions of God’s law (see the “Korban” incident), is it unreasonable to think that putting Jesus to death was enough of a priority for them at that time that they felt that the Passover feast could wait a few (or several) hours that particular year?

Posted by Robert Podesfinski on Friday, Apr 26, 2013 5:30 AM (EDT):

The ideas in a book cannot be copyrighted. I did not know of a special allowance for Galileans to eat the Passover a day early, but it makes common sense. Galileans were fishermen for the most part, and the fish from the fresh water lake of Galilee fed the nation just as much as sheep provided meat to eat. I have gone fishing only a few times with a friend, being raised a city dweller in New Jersey, and I learned you must get up with the rising sun to catch fish. I fished off off Sandy Hook NJ. The fish in Galilee were likely no different.
I would like to correct an earlier remark I made about the dating of the birth of Jesus. I mentioned the Gospel of Matthew, but it actually was the Gospel of Luke:1:1-2. Jesus was born during the reign of Caesar Augustus as Emperor and “while Quirinius was Governor of Syria” (New Jerusalem Bible) and the King James Bible says “Cyrenius was governor of Syria”. It was mentioned Jesus’s birth was in the fifteen years of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:1) and the remainder of that Gospel entry continues: “Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod the Great being tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip tetrarch of Trachonitis and Lysani as tetrarch of Abilene.” I have heard one bible commentator that Lysani’s reign was quite short and that would make finding Jesus’s birth relatively easy.

Posted by Andy Suyker on Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 10:48 PM (EDT):

Has anyone read The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (the revelations to Sr. Anne Catherine Emmerich)? I found the passage that states why Christ ate the Passover meal a day early (My intention is not to violate copyright laws):
Some said that he had eaten the Paschal Lamb on thc previous day, which was contrary to the law, and that the year before he had made different alterations in the manner of celebrating this ceremony. But the witnesses contradicted one another to such a degree that Caiphas and his adherents found, to their very great annoyance and anger, that not one accusation could be really proved. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were called up, and being commanded to say how it happened that they had allowed him to eat the Pasch on the wrong day in a room which belonged to them, they proved from ancient documents that from time immemorial the Galileans had been allowed to eat the Pasch a day earlier than the rest of the Jews. They added that every other part of the ceremony had been performed according to the directions given in the law, and that persons belonging to the Temple were present at the supper. This quite puzzled the witnesses, and Nicodemus increased the rage of the enemies of Jesus by painting out the passages in the archives which proved the right of the Galileans, and gave the reason for which this privilege was granted. The reason was this: the sacrifices would not have been finished by the Sabbath if the immense multitudes who congregated together for that purpose had all been obliged to perform the ceremony on the same day; and although the Galileans had not always profited by this right, yet its existence was incontestably proved by Nicodemus

I believe the Julian calendar used by the Romans used March or April as the first day of the new year. So in calculating the exact time of the crucifixion, did Jesus die at the end of a Roman year or at the beginning of a new year?

I have read all blogs posted and they are thoughtful. But I did not see anyone mention that the Romans began their “year” on either March or April. This was the former Julian calendar. It was changed to January. that would throw off historical counting of years too.

I withdraw my earlier comment about the eclipse. You cannot have an eclipse of a full moon (when Passover takes place) and an eclipse at the same time.
The book of Matthew listing three officials (one very local) and the reign of Augustus Tiberius and Herod the Great is the only positive thing I have to contribute. Sorry for my confusion.

Posted by Robert Podesfinski of Portland OR on Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 7:56 AM (EDT):

A good use of logic until the very end. You had two choices. You could have chosen 30AD or 33AD. The reason why 33 is traditional is because Jesus died at the age of 33. But the question is did the Christian calendar start at the right date, 0 AD or 0BC?
Scientists tell us today they know the exact year when an eclipse of the sun took place in Judea in that era (full or partial eclipse is irrelevant) on Passover. (I used to attend the NY Hayden Planetarium regularly as a kid and beyond.) I read a news article in a religious or non-religious newspaper, and the date picked was the early one.
You did a good job of searching Fridays.
but doesn’t every Passover begin at sundown Friday?
John’s Gospel is completely out of sync with the other four. But John writes from his personal memory, and some days memories meld one day into another or split them apart. He was very old when someone wrote down his memories. The other date setting thing is a local official who held office in addition to Augustus Caesar and Herod the Great in the gospel of Matthew when Jesus was born. The eclipse was on 30 AD. Jesus was born in 3 BC, and the Christian calendar was set a little off. But pretty good for people without a telescope, satellites and not even knowing the world was round.

Posted by Dex on Saturday, Apr 20, 2013 1:50 AM (EDT):

@Aloysius Christ is ever-present. Most specially during the Eucharist.

Posted by Aloysius Duque on Friday, Apr 19, 2013 4:53 PM (EDT):

The important thing to contemplate now is, When will Jesus return in Glory??? March 25???

Posted by anonymous on Friday, Apr 19, 2013 2:59 PM (EDT):

“Clue #4: Crucified on a Friday
All four gospels agree that Jesus was crucified on a Friday”

Wrong!: All four gospels agree that Jesus was crucified the day before Shabbat, but it was not a weekly Shabbat (Saturday), it was a annual Shabbat or high Shabbat (Jesus was crucified on Passover day around 9AM).
See John 19:31

The three High Holy Days established by God are:

1 - The first day of the Feast Of Unleavened Bread (Chag haMatzoh) - 15 Nisan - The day after The Passover.
2 - Pentecost (Shavu’ot) - On a Sunday, very late in spring, fifty days from the first Sunday following (after) The Passover.
3 - The first day of the Feast Of Tabernacles (Sukk’ot) - 15 Tishri - Five days after Yom Kippur and fifteen days after Rosh haShanah.
These three God-ordained High Holy Days are Annual High Sabbats, “Pilgrimage” Sabbats.

Jesus could not be crucified on Friday since John 12:1 says that Jesus came to Bethany (from Ephraim 18 miles away)six days before Passover (on a Saturday if he was crucified on Friday), and the law forbade Jews to travel on Shabbat day (Exodus 16:29).

Read also Luke 23:54-56 also Mark 16:1-4. Mary Magdalen probably traveled to Galilee and bought spices to prepare them for anointing the body of Jesus (as it was customary, and observing both the high Shabbat and the seventh day Shabbat)), knowing also that for three days there was an appointed guard at the tomb, so they needed to wait the three days, so probably they did that on Friday which was the only day when they could.

Conclusion: You need to go back to the drawing board.

Posted by Elaine S. on Friday, Apr 19, 2013 7:57 AM (EDT):

FWIW, the book “The Day Christ Died” by Jim Bishop used the A.D. 30 date, and it was written in the late 1950s.

Somewhere else I read (not sure where) that when the Gospels refer to Christ being “about” 30 years old when He began his public ministry, it is merely to point out that He had attained the age when a rabbi could begin teaching; the Gospel writers were’nt necessarily specifying His precise age. He could have been a few years older than that.

Posted by JAD on Friday, Apr 19, 2013 1:44 AM (EDT):

A doctor from Australia has a web site that explains the Sir Robert Anderson (wrote The Coming King) calculations of the Dan 9 prophecy predicting the entrance of the Jewish King to Jerusalem from the Daris edict to rebuild the temple.
see the embedded video. It indicates 32 AD is more accurate.
http://endtimepilgrim.org/70wks6.htm

Additionally, the Jewish feast days were called high Sabbeths. So the day before a Sabbeth was not always a Friday… especially during this week.

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim [to be] holy convocations, these [are] My feasts.
Lev 23:3 ‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day [is] a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work [on it]; it [is] the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:4 ‘These [are] the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
Lev 23:5 ‘On the fourteenth [day] of the first month at twilight [is] the LORD’s Passover.
Lev 23:6 ‘And on the fifteenth day of the same month [is] the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
Lev 23:7 ‘On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.
Lev 23:8 ‘But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day [shall be] a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work [on it].’ ”

The month of Nisan begins on the first (visible) new moon after the spring equinox and the feast of the passover falls on the day of the full moon, the 14 of Nisan.

Now, a solar eclipse can only occur at the time of the new moon, when the sun and moon are in conjunction (have the same right ascension), not at the time of the full moon, when they are in opposition, with a twelve hour difference in their transit of the meridian.

Thus the darkness in the gospel accounts could not have been s solar eclipse.

Posted by Nick from Detroit on Sunday, Apr 14, 2013 10:25 AM (EDT):

Mr. Hunt,
That is incorrect. The Synoptics skip the time between Christ’s baptism and Saint John the Baptist’s arrest, roughly a year-and-a-half. The disciples of the Apostle John asked him to write down the events missing in the Synoptics, in his Gospel (See Eusebius’ Church History, Book III,24,6-13).
I have found this information very helpful in understanding the differences between the Synoptics and John’s Gospel. John is filling in some of the blank spots in Matthew, Mark, & Luke.
God Bless!

Posted by Bob Hunt on Saturday, Apr 13, 2013 10:20 PM (EDT):

Very interesting. The synoptic Gospels report a one year ministry for Jesus. How does this factor in?

Posted by Bob on Saturday, Apr 13, 2013 12:16 PM (EDT):

The Golden Legend, compile by the Archbishop of Genoa in 1275, puts the Annunciation on the twenty-fifth of March.
On this same day Adam was created and fell into original sin and was put out of the Garden of Eden. Also on this day: Cain slew Abel; Melchisedech’s offering of bread and wine was performed; Abraham offered Isaac his son; St. John Baptist was beheaded; St. Peter was delivered out of prison; St. James the More was beheaded by Herod; and Jesus Christ was crucified.

Posted by Dex on Friday, Apr 12, 2013 11:51 PM (EDT):

Another great and factual post! I always share your posts on my FB account and in the office. God truly is with you sir.

Posted by Aloysius Duque on Friday, Apr 12, 2013 4:26 PM (EDT):

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

All Christian antiquity (against all astronomical possibility) recognized the 25th of March as the actual day of Our Lord’s death. The opinion that the Incarnation also took place on that date is found in the pseudo-Cyprianic work “De Pascha Computus”, c. 240. It argues that the coming of Our Lord and His death must have coincided with the creation and fall of Adam. And since the world was created in spring, the Saviour was also conceived and died shortly after the equinox of spring. Similar fanciful calculations are found in the early and later Middle Ages, and to them, no doubt, the dates of the feast of the Annunciation and of Christmas owe their origin. Consequently the ancient martyrologies assign to the 25th of March the creation of Adam and the crucifixion of Our Lord; also, the fall of Lucifer, the passing of Israel through the Red Sea and the immolation of Isaac. (Thruston, Christmas and the Christian Calendar, Amer. Eccl. Rev., XIX, 568.) The original date of this feast was the 25th of March. Although in olden times most of the churches kept no feast in Lent, the Greek Church in the Trullan Synod (in 692; can. 52) made an exception in favour of the Annunciation. In Rome, it was always celebrated on the 25th of March. The Spanish Church transferred it to the 18th of December, and when some tried to introduce the Roman observance of it on the 25th of March, the 18th of December was officially confirmed in the whole Spanish Church by the tenth Synod of Toledo (656). This law was abolished when the Roman liturgy was accepted in Spain.

Posted by Francisco Sandoval on Friday, Apr 12, 2013 3:59 PM (EDT):

Jimmy:

I have just been reading the fantastic Archeology book “paths of the Messiah” by Bargil Pixner, Ignatius Press, where he ventures the opinion that Jesus and his apostles might have been using the Essene ritual for Passover and thus, the Last supper happened on a Tuesday.

Has this been explored?

Posted by Nick from Detroit on Friday, Apr 12, 2013 1:30 PM (EDT):

Oops! That should have been: “[...] [A]nd, I ACCEPTED it as a plausible way to square the Synoptics with John’s Gospel.”

Posted by Leo Higgins on Friday, Apr 12, 2013 1:18 PM (EDT):

Here’s something I worked out about 10 years ago which arrives at the same April 3, 33AD date from an entirely different train of thought:

Is It Possible to Determine the Actual Date of Jesus’ Passion?

By Leo Higgins

For Christians, there are many events in the New Testament which, while certainly considered to be historical, are nevertheless hard to assign a fixed date to. One of these events is that which is the most central of all: Good Friday, the date on which Christ was crucified. While there are clues within the Gospel accounts that can provide some boundaries to the date of the crucifixion, it has never been a sufficiently critical issue that theologians and historians have felt compelled to glean more precision from these accounts. There are, however, many people with more than a slight curiosity with regard to the dating issue, and I believe it is possible to satisfy that curiosity, without appealing to evidence that is simply sensationalist. The following article will present a case for developing a firm date based primarily on internal Scriptural evidence.

The usual analysis of the dating of Good Friday (and the other events of Holy Week) simply uses the dates of the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate as upper and lower boundaries. It then proceeds to eliminate those years within that timeframe that do not have Passover falling on the correct day of the week, which, of course, is Friday (we know that Christ’s crucifixion took place on a day which was both the Preparation Day for Passover and the Preparation Day for the Sabbath. Compare John 19:14 and Luke 23:54). Pilate was Procurator of Judea from 26 AD to 36 AD. The only years within his procuratorship that had the beginning of Passover fall on the requisite Friday were 30 AD and 33 AD. It has generally been assumed, therefore, that Jesus’ Passion occurred in one or the other of these years. It has also been assumed that nothing more precise could be determined.

However, a hypothesis can be developed, showing that it is possible, cross-referencing passages in Daniel, Nehemiah, Luke and Revelation, to arrive at an exact date. Daniel 9:24-27, the famous “seventy weeks of years” prophecy, has been used throughout the Christian Era to give a “ballpark estimate” to the timing of Holy Week, but, no specific date ever seems to be derived from it. Nevertheless, as an aid in determining the date of the Passion, the passage is clearly a linchpin of sorts; cross-referencing it twice, forward and backward in time, can give an initial dating accuracy of one month to the events of Holy Week. With just one subjective, but rather logical, inference from this data, it is possible to refine the precision to the level of a series of exact dates for Holy Week.

The prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 starts the clock running till the time of the Anointed One (the Messiah) and his being “cut off.” The clock is said to begin, in verse 25, “from the going forth of the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem,” and is temporarily stopped, at the end of the sixty-ninth week of years, with the Anointed One being killed in verse 26. The events described in Nehemiah 2:1-8, in which King Artaxerxes gives Nehemiah permission to restore the walls and city of Jerusalem, are clearly referenced in verse 25 of Daniel 9. The Anointed One being “cut off” in verse 26 is generally recognized as the crucifixion of Jesus.

Fortunately, Nehemiah 2:1 gives us the month and year of Artaxerxes’ order enabling Nehemiah to restore Jerusalem. It occurred “in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes.” Artaxerxes became King of Persia sometime in the late spring or early summer of 464 BC, after the death of Artabanus, the usurper of Artaxerxes’ father Xerxes’ throne. This would mean that the month of Nisan in Artaxerxes’ twentieth year would be the equivalent of March/April 444 BC in our calendar. Using the schema found in Daniel 9:25, 69 weeks of years— (7+62) x 7—equal 483 years. Moving forward 483 years from this date would bring us to March/April 40 AD. A date in 40 AD is problematic, with respect to the crucifixion of Christ, since it is well outside the key timeframe constraint of Pilate’s procuratorship, which had ended approximately four years earlier. However, this calculation, ending in 40 AD, assumes each year consists of 365 days. It could be argued, based on Revelation 11:3 (which actually refers to the passage in Daniel 9:25!), that the years should be reckoned on the basis of a 360 day-calendar. Revelation 11:3 speaks of 42 months consisting of 1260 days; this equates to every month having 30 days, or each year having 360 days (30 x 12). If the assumption can be made that scripture, being inerrant, cross-references itself inerrantly, then the 360 day-year would be the correct model to employ in successfully calculating the time period prophesied in Daniel 9:25. It is then a matter of simple calculation. The correct passage of time would be 483 years x 360 days, or 173,880 days from the time that the “clock starts ticking” in Nehemiah 2:1. Using a method which will be described shortly, this would bring us to March/April 33 AD, which is, along with 30 AD, one of the “target” years for the Passion of Christ.

It may be worth noting at this point, as an aside, that 30 AD may meet the “Friday Passover during Pilate’s procuratorship” requirement, but it has problems which are derived directly from internal evidence in Scripture. It would be highly unlikely that 30 AD is the correct year for the Crucifixion, since it is too close to the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist. Luke 3:1 says that John the Baptist began his ministry “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius,” or, between August 19, 28 AD and August 18, 29 AD (Tiberius became emperor on August 19, 14 AD). A 30 AD date for Jesus’ Passion, given the timeframe of the beginning of John’s mission, simply doesn’t allow sufficient time for both John’s and Jesus’ ministries to develop. The only alternative, 33 AD, leaves four to five years for their missions – a realistic breakdown of a year or two for John, and the traditional reckoning of three years for Jesus.

But back to the arithmetic! The 173,880 days from the clock “activation” in Nehemiah 2:1 put us squarely in the Spring of 33 AD. Let us take hold of this happy coincidence and assume we now have at least the correct year. A typical astronomical calculation program pertaining to lunar phase cycles will show that the Paschal full moon for that year (which fixes the first day of Passover) took place on April 3, 33 AD. We can assume that, therefore, Friday, April 3, 33 AD is the date of the Crucifixion. The prophecy in Daniel 9:25, however, doesn’t properly end with the Crucifixion, but with the “coming of an Anointed One” to Jerusalem. The calculation refers more to “the coming” than the “cutting off.” This would translate, therefore, to Palm Sunday, when Christ enters Jerusalem in triumph, fulfilling Psalm 118:26-27. Our fixed reference point should therefore be moved back from the astronomically certain date of Passover (April 3) to the previous Sunday, which, by definition of the scriptural sequence of events in Holy Week, was Palm Sunday. That would bring us to fixing the stopping of Daniel’s “clock” at Palm Sunday, March 29, 33 AD.

It is now possible to close the loop, and assign exact dates all around. A handy device which astronomers use in calculating days between distant dates is the Julian Day. All dates since January 1, 4713 BC (the reasons behind this choice in dates are too complex, as well as irrelevant, to discuss here) are assigned a unique number in sequence. March 29, 33 AD corresponds to Julian Day 1,733,199. Going back the required 173,880 days from this date brings us to Julian Day 1,559,319, or, March 8, 444 BC. Therefore, if the usage of a 360 day-calendar is correct, and the resultant 173,880 days are meant to be taken as literally and exactly true, the conversation between Nehemiah and King Artaxerxes referenced in Nehemiah 2:1-8 took place on March 8, 444 BC. It can additionally be shown, with astronomical calculations, that March 8, 444 BC meets the requirements of the text in Nehemiah, since the Paschal full moon (by definition in Exodus 12:18 and Numbers 28:16, the 14th of Nisan) occurred that year on March 17; this would put March 8, nine days earlier, at the fifth day of Nisan, and therefore within the correct month in Nehemiah’s account of his meeting with Artaxerxes.

In summation, I am proposing that, using Daniel 9:24-27 in conjunction with Nehemiah 2:1-8 it is possible to:
• Start with a date for Artaxerxes’ order which is accurate to within a month (March/April 444 BC) and move forward a specified number (483 x 360) of 173,880 days to March/April 33 AD. This is the only year, remember, which meets both the Passover/Sabbath coincidence requirement and the necessity of providing enough time for Jesus’ ministry to develop after the beginning of John’s. Then…
• Find the date for the Paschal full moon for that year (April 3, 33 AD) and establish that as Good Friday. Then…
• Back-up five days to March 29 and establish that, by definition, as Palm Sunday. Then…
• Go back 173,880 days from that exact date and establish March 8, 444 BC as the exact date of Nehemiah’s request to Artaxerxes regarding the rebuilding of Jerusalem. And finally…
• Show that the date of this conversation, nine days before the Paschal full moon of March 17, 444 BC (the 14th day of Nisan, by definition) was the 5th day of Nisan and, therefore, totally in harmony with the text of Nehemiah 2:1.

All of the foregoing is, in the end, simply my conjecture. I feel it has solid enough underpinnings, however, to be useful both in apologetics with those outside the Christian sphere, and as a faith-bolstering tool for those who are wavering in part because they’ve been repeatedly chided about the alleged “imprecision” of the Bible in historical matters. It is noteworthy that this hypothesis demonstrates the uncanny precision of at least this messianic prophecy, even when the New Testament authors make no real reference to it, though they would have much to gain, in a self-serving apologetic, if they did so. At least, in this exegetical work-up, Christianity cannot be accused of engineering “ex post facto” prophetic fulfillments to make Christ fit the facts. The facts fit Christ!

Posted by Nick from Detroit on Friday, Apr 12, 2013 1:14 PM (EDT):

I first heard of the hypothesis that the Last Supper followed the Essene calendar from Fr. Mitch Pacwa, on EWTN, about a decade ago. He didn’t explain the details, and, I excepted it as a plausible way to square the Synoptics with John’s Gospel.
But, last year, I came across several essays (mostly in Catholic blogs) that dealt with the many theories, in-depth, and I learned much more about this subject. I would like to share some interesting facts that helped to clarify these dates, for myself.

First, solar eclipses cannot occur during a full-moon, nor, can they last for 3 hours. Plus, the 3 hours of darkness was seen in other parts of the world and recorded by non-Christian sources (one of which stated that the stars could be seen). So, it is likely that this was a miraculous event with no natural explanation.

Second, Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews (Book III,10,5) records the following:The feast of unleavened bread succeeds that of the passover, and falls on the fifteenth day of [Nisan], and continues seven days, wherein they feed on unleavened bread; on every one of which days two bulls are killed, and one ram, and seven lambs. Now these lambs are entirely burnt, besides the kid of the goats which is added to all the rest, for sins; for it is intended as a FEAST FOR THE PRIEST ON EVERY ONE OF THOSE DAYS (Emphasis mine.)
This would explain the Passover meal that the Jewish authorities wanted to eat on Friday. If they entered the Praetorium, they would be ritually unclean until sundown, and, therefore, could not participate in Friday’s feast.

Finally, the popular assertion of 4 B.C. as the date of Herod the Great’s death should not be so readily accepted. It is based on Josephus’ account that Herod’s death coincided with a lunar eclipse. It is assumed that this was the eclipse that happened in March of 4 B.C. But, it is much more likely that he died during the eclipse of 1 B.C. This, of course, would mean that Jesus was “around 30-years-old” when He began His ministry.

Posted by Flamen on Friday, Apr 12, 2013 11:56 AM (EDT):

Your simplification of the problem of the dating of the crucifixion of Jesus is interesting. You have chosen one date as the final answer. However, a thorough analysis of the problem is found in the masterwork THE DEATH OF THE MESSIAH by Raymond E. Brown, S.S. PP.1351-1378. He says “I see no possibility of coming to a decision choosing one of the two years.”

Posted by Nate on Friday, Apr 12, 2013 11:22 AM (EDT):

Yeah, the eclipse is the kicker. Every eclipse can be mathematically predicted for all time. This means that when God put things into motion at the beginning of time, he set it up so that an eclipse would happen on that very day and time. God knew, even as he was creating everything, that he would die for us!!!

*mind blown*

Posted by Mark Kamoski on Friday, Apr 12, 2013 9:01 AM (EDT):

Thank you for the great article.

I have a question.

When you say “around 3:00 p.m on Friday, April 3, A.D. 33” what time zone are suggesting?

Israel is currently in the time zone of (GMT+03:00), according to this link… http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/asia/israel/ ...so maybe the time zone is worth clarifying?

(Maybe you did mention it and I missed it? After reading the article I also searched the page for “zone” and found no hits; so, that is why I am asking, etc.)

Thanks and God bless you.

—Mark Kamoski

Posted by John on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 10:56 PM (EDT):

A recently heard a presentation on the Shroud. The speaker mentioned that we know Jesus died on April 3, 33. He pointed out that NASA’s software that allows one to look at the skies as they were in history shows there was a solar eclipse visible in Jerusalem at 3pm on that day. Had you ever heard this?

Posted by Guest on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 10:04 PM (EDT):

The year 33 certainly seems to have a sound basis as presented here. The reason I have always hoped (believed) it was in the year 30 is because of the destruction of the temple in the year 70. The profundity and biblical symmetry of a 40 year period given for Jews to convert before destroying the temple is hard to ignore - for me anyway.

Posted by Jimmy Akin on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 9:57 PM (EDT):

@ FM, Dr. Eric, and others who may be wondering: Although I think the evidence shows that Jesus was crucified in A.D. 33, I do not think that he was 37 (or older) at the time. I’ll get into the question of when he was born in new posts.

Posted by listen on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 9:36 PM (EDT):

Even though most of us haven’t met him in person, I can say that Jimmy is our ‘Teacher’ of the Catholic faith.

Posted by Rosie on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 9:34 PM (EDT):

That was actually kind of cool. Thanks for sharing it.

Posted by Leo Higgins on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 9:05 PM (EDT):

For Cristopher Ecclasiae:

The Julian calendar DID contain leap years. If it did not, it would have been a whole lot more than 10 days off when Gregory brought things back in sync in 1582, more than 1600 years after the Julian calendar began.

After resetting the calendar for 1582 by simply declaring the day after October 4 would be October 15, Gregory’s primary adjustment for future purposes was that leap years would NOT take place in years divisible by 100 if they were not also divisible by 400. Thus, for example, 1700, 1800 and 1900 were NOT leap years, while 1600 and 2000 were. This will keep the calendar we use today accurate to within a day till something like the year 8000 AD.

Posted by Leo Higgins on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 8:46 PM (EDT):

A lot of people seem to be missing the greater point about the ministry of John the Baptist and the methodology of the Romans in determining regnal years. Whether one includes part of 28 AD or only begins the calculation with 29 AD, the overall point is that this is when John the Baptist BEGINS his ministry. It is clear from Scripture that John the Baptist had to have performed his baptisms for some significant time: he had a cadre of his own disciples, and crowds came to be baptized by him. Therefore, one can conclude that something like a year (or more) had elapsed before Jesus arrived for His baptism, which would mean He did this no earlier than sometime after August of 29 AD. Combining this with the fact that, according to St. John’s Gospel three Passovers took place during the timespan of Jesus’ public life (involving an overall timeframe of two years plus a day out to three full years), He could not have been crucified any earlier than 31 AD. This only confirms jimmy’s point that April 7, 30 AD can be eliminated from consideration.

As a sidebar to the scriptural references Jimmy makes, it is interesting to note that there was a full lunar eclipse which too place on April 3, 33 AD. What’s more, the eclipse began right about 3PM local Jerusalem time (at the time when Jesus died), and ended about 6 PM local time (right about local sunset, when He would have had to be buried in order to avoid profaning both the Sabbath and the Passover). And the entirety of this eclipse was below the horizon in Jerusalem, ending almost exactly at moonrise there. This suggests - to me at least - a symbolic labor of the moon reclaiming itself from the blood-red shadow on its surface as a real-time analogy to the work of Christ “below” the earth freeing those righteous souls detained there! The astronomical calculations I worked out years ago with my Redshift astronomical software, which, being a decidedly secular product, certainly would have no built-in biases in this regard!

I don’t think that there is any doubt that April 3, 33 AD is the correct date of the crucifixion!

Posted by Andrew on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 8:37 PM (EDT):

What about the Tradition that he died on March 25? This is both the feast of St. Dismas (the good thief who was crucified alongside him) and the feast of the Annunciation (meaning that Jesus would have lived EXACTLY 33 years from conception until death)?

Posted by Tom Simon on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 8:14 PM (EDT):

@Christopher Ecclesiae: ‘A historical comment about Leap Year: they did not exist (as we know them) back in Jesus’ time. Pope Gregory XIII introduced the 29th day of the month February with the Gregorian Calendar,’

This is incorrect. Leap years were introduced by Julius Caesar along with the Julian calendar. The original leap day was a repetition of the sixth day before the Kalends of March — what we would call February 24. The Romans therefore called leap years ‘bissextile years’, or ‘twice-sixth’ years. The Gregorian reform consists of leaving out three leap years in every 400 years (those years divisible by 100 but not by 400).

An amusing tidbit: In the earlier years of the reign of Augustus, the College of Pontifices (which was responsible for the Roman calendar) misunderstood Caesar’s directions for adding leap years, and thought they should be added in every fourth year inclusively — that is, if year 4 was a leap year, you should count 4, 5, 6, 7, and put the next leap day in year 7. So they wound up adding leap days every three years instead of every four. When Augustus discovered the error, he had to leave out several leap days to put the calendar back in sync.

Posted by TeaPot562 on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 8:02 PM (EDT):

The Jewish authorities had to wait for daylight to seek their first audience with Pontius Pilate; and Pilate, learning that Jesus was from Galilee, sent him to Herod the Tetrarch (Luke). So Mark’s referring to Jesus being crucified at the third hour, may have referenced WHEN Pilate condemned Jesus to death (after Jesus’s return from Herod to Pilate). The exact times are not really important.
How can you contemplate, even the scourging as shown in Passion of the Christ, without wondering how Jesus could have loved You so much, and asking, “Lord Jesus, am I really worth all that suffering?”
And some Roman prisoners died in the scourging process.
His love for each of us is extraordinary.
TeaPot562

Posted by Carol Bell on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 6:55 PM (EDT):

This was very facinating and informative. Thank you, Jimmy Akin for your indepth article. I have read many of your writings and appreciate your “Protestant” input. It really helps to know how Protestants think about Catholic issues so we, as Catholics, can understand where they get many of their misconceptions. God Bless you for all you do! May the peace of Christ be with you always.

Posted by Rick on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 6:47 PM (EDT):

Jimmy, can we make use of the eclipse to add more confidence to 4/3/33, 3:00pm?

Posted by FM on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 5:17 PM (EDT):

@ Jimmy Akin

Thanks for the clarifications Jimmy! Very interesting! :)

PS: Now that we have a year, day and hour we just need a DeLorean!

Posted by Katherine on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 4:54 PM (EDT):

Fascinating, Jimmy! Thank you for taking the time to research and post this!

Small comment here. The first century Jews spoke ARAMAIC and followed the Tenakh, which can only translated as OLD COVENANT. THIS was the scriptures Yeshua came to fulfill.
There wasn’t ANY B’rit Hadashah or NEW COVENANT written then.The First century Jews spoke ARAMAIC as their language and it was then translated into the Greek. NOW where does it say that Yeshua SPOKE Greek or that it was given in GREEK. Shaul(Paul)was a Jew from the Temple who was also a Roman Citizen, and when he plead his case demanded to be taken to ROME, NOT Greece. This would indicate he spoke not only Aramaic, but LATIN and is what he would have communicated in either of those languages and NOT Greek. Aramaic to the Jews he communicated with and Latin to the Romans he was witnessing to of Yeshua.
Thus while I can agree with your timing of the day, there is a few things that have not been considered. HE was crucified on Good Friday so that they would not upset the Jews by having it on their PASSOVER Shabbat. The Word tells us this as the Pharisees sought to remove him PRIOR to this time. His entry into Yerushalayim a week prior to that on first day, or Palm Sunday as it is commonly known, leads us to understand that while he was there he did celebrate the Peshach meal(Passover)and was invited to celebrate it along with his talmidgeon (disciples)in a home at the night time. The DAY given is not specified although HE fulfilled the WHOLE of the Tanakh prior to his entering the garden to await the arrest and his subsequent appearance before an illegal meeting of the San Hedren.THIS suggests that while he was there HE would have followed JEWISH customs to the letter. THE San Hedren were forbidden not only by laws but by customs to meet at night especially on a Passover and Holy week commemoration. They did so to remain pure in their own eyes as they did not believe that they could do so and not remain undefiled before the Shabbat. ALSO the WORD tells us that there are TWO Shabbats in that time, Pesach being the first and official DAY of Passover, then the days after that with the last day ALSO being a Shabbat marking the end of the feast days of unleavened bread. Also there is a difference in the Jewish calendars as well with a civil and holy one to consider. The jews only have 360 days to their calendar with a 13th month every few years to make up for the difference (the 2nd month of Adar or Adar2) and this must be taken into any calculations of a time frame for things to occur. Stating it with the Gregorian or Caesarian calenders doesn’t look at it through the eyes of those living in that time but of THIS time and that would lead to false understandings and interpretations and as I can see you’re a man who prides himself upon making sure the truth is presented to your readers I wanted to bring this forth. Reference sources for ALL of this is the Complete JEWISH Bible, by David H. Stern. This is also referenced by those above in some fashions and is deserving of your time to investigate it. It is available for download into many electronic-Bible applications including E-Sword. For more on this go to www.messianicjewish.net as this helps to explain the whole of it from the perspective of a Jew and follower of Yeshua. Thank you and may YHWH bless you and keep you.

Posted by Dr. Eric on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 3:47 PM (EDT):

So, this would mean that our Lord was somewhere between 37-39 years of age at His Crucifixion and not 33 as tradition holds.

Posted by DoubtingThomas on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 3:20 PM (EDT):

Jimmy,

I don’t know if you’ve seen this before, but it corresponds EXACTLY with what you are saying. http://www.bethlehemstar.net/the-day-of-the-cross/dating-the-crucifixion/

A historical comment about Leap Year: they did not exist (as we know them) back in Jesus’ time. Pope Gregory XIII introduced the 29th day of the month February with the Gregorian Calendar, largely to prevent the date of the Spring Equinox from migrating to different months. Why was this important? The Church celebrates Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. To ensure that all Christians were in agreement about when that was, the Gregorian Calendar was (largely) accepted and used to establish the seasons as we know them today.

A scientific comment about Leap Year: We recognize a year as 1 revolution around the Sun, which we measure as 365 rotations of the Earth (days). In actuality, it takes approximately 365.25 rotations of the Earth for us to travel around the Sun. If we did not add 1 day ever 4 years, our seasons would slowly migrate around the calendar. December would eventually be the start of summer and June would be winter, and so forth and so on. Leap Year stops this from happening. Notice, however, that it is APPROXIMATELY 365.25 days. This means that in many many years we will need to once again adjust even the Gregorian Calendar. None of us will be around to witness that, however.

Posted by Michael Petek on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 2:17 PM (EDT):

If you count Tiberius’s 15 years by the (October to October) Syro-Macedonian calendar, John the Baptist’s ministry would have started in or after October 27.

The Temple authorities (John’s Gospel) protested to Jesus that it had taken 46 years to build the temple. Construction started in 19 BC, so the firat Passover of Jesus’ ministry would have been in the year 28.

Eusebius has the disciple Thaddaeus visiting King Abgar of Edessa in the year 30, after the Ascension.

Posted by Jason Hull on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 2:11 PM (EDT):

You are wrong about the Passover sacrifice being on Friday. St. John referred to the Passover and the entire Feast of Unleavened bread as the “Passover” as did many Jews of that time. If one becomes ritually unclean, at sundown they ritually bath and are then considered clean again. So becoming ritually unclean during the day would not be an issue for eating the Passover as eating the Passover sacrifice happens after sundown. Additionally, Jesus could not celebrate the Passover one day early because the Passover sacrifice had not been sacrificed yet! Plus the synoptic Gospels all place the eating of the Passover sacrifice Thursday night. Therefore, the interpretation that you offer for the passage in John’s Gospel has to be wrong. It does not fit the testimony. Consider this instead: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/Luke_Gospel/Luke_Lesson_14.htm

@ Bradley Stalder: There is no evidence in the Gospels to suggest that Jesus would have followed a different calendar from the Jewish authorities. Hahn suggests that Jesus may have celebrated the Passover on Tuesday in accord with the Essene calendar, but there is no evidence for this, despite a few sayings by some of the Syriac fathers. Many other scholars point out that John’s use of “Passover” lines up with early Jewish usage of the term denoting the entire week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Jn 19:14 says, “it was the day of Preparation of the Passover.” The Day of Preparation always meant Friday (preparation day for the sabbath) and “of the Passover” meant “of the week of Unleavened Bread.” Dr. Brant Pitre has documented this thoroughly in his works.

Posted by Bradley Stalder on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 12:40 PM (EDT):

This is not what Scott Hahn would advocate for. Read the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament and read the paragraph on Calendar Controversy. It says the following: Some maintain that Jesus, when he celebrated the Last Supper, followed an alternative Jewish calendar in which Passover fell on Tuesday instead of Friday night. Thus, the synoptic gospels correctly describe the last supper as a passover meal, whereas John correctly notes that Jewish authorities did not celebrate the feast until the evening of Good Friday…. See Pg 188 for the rest.

Posted by Walter Delle on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 12:34 PM (EDT):

WOW…what a great artical…Thanks Mr. Akin. I really do enjoy your stuff:)

Posted by Pato Acevedo on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 12:10 PM (EDT):

Excelent post Jimmy, I’m a big fan and member of the Secret Info Club.

I have one question: have you considered John 2:20? “20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”

If Herod’s rebuild began in 19 B.C., that would point to 27 A.D. for the first passover recorded on John’s Gospel.

Posted by Gina Lepore on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 12:04 PM (EDT):

Interesting and informative! I am really enjoying reading the register.Thank you for keeping me close to The Lord and his Holy Church! It’s awesome when you understand what’s going on! I have so much to learn, but like they say, it’s a growing process. “The Bible Inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the greatest story ever told!”

Posted by Jimmy Akin on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 11:58 AM (EDT):

@ Tom and FM: You are quite correct that there are variations to be considered in regard to Luke’s way of counting regnal years. I’ve been though that in mind-numbing detail in my own studies. In this piece I’m trying to keep it simple for a broader audience.

Here I stopped at A.D. 29 (rather than going into more detail) for two reasons:

1) If Jesus did start his ministry in the latter part of the year 28 then it would not affect the timing of the Crucifixion since Passover is a Spring feast and there still wouldn’t be enough time for two full years to pass before A.D. 30. Thus A.D. 33 would still be indicated.

2) In all likelihood, Luke is using the same system of counting regnal years that was common among Roman historians (Tacitus, Suetonius), which starts the official regnal year on the first January 1st, after the monarch takes office.

This is excellent. But what we all REALLY want to know, Jimmy, is the precise year, month, day, and hour of the end of the world. Deduced from the Bible, of course. ;)

Giggle.

P.S. The captcha for this comment was “numbers14”!

Posted by Kevin on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 10:28 AM (EDT):

Check out Dr. Taylor Marshall’s post on when Jesus was born (http://www.taylormarshall.com/2012/12/yes-christ-was-really-born-on-december.html).

Posted by jmjastrowski on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 10:21 AM (EDT):

Before finishing your beautiful article, I already guessed that it would most likely be 33, this is Jesus’ age and I once read somewhere that St Thomas Aquinas said that that would probably be what our glorified bodies will be similar to in Heaven since God is perfect and His age on earth and at death, no one could be or is more perfect in essence that GOD, so naturally as the Bible and so much that is in the life of Christ is connected to primary numbers, 3,12,40,33 seems right on the money.God Bless.

Posted by Joe on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 9:53 AM (EDT):

The dvd www.bethlehemstar.net covers this and more.

Posted by DMJSD on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 8:12 AM (EDT):

This is very interesting! And a lot of threes! I guess that explains the tradition that Jesus died at the age of 33, though I forget what the best estimate for how off 1 AD is off from Jesus’s actual birth.

I have a slightly related question. My friends and I were discussing the general tradition that Jesus was on the cross for three hours because one friend came across an article (http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2013/03/29/the-crucifixion-of-our-lord) that pointed out that Mark says Jesus was crucified at the third hour, there was darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour, and Jesus died at the ninth hour. This seems pretty clear cut, so where did the tradition that Jesus was on the cross for three hours come from? (For example, St. Liguori’s Stations of the Cross: “Consider how Your Jesus, after three hours of agony on the cross…”) Is it just people remembering the darkness for three hours? I’d love to read your take on this. Thanks!

Posted by FM on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 7:58 AM (EDT):

PS: Jesus was not 33, as ‘traditional age’ goes, when he died, however, but must have been between 37 (if he was born in 4 BC, right before Herod death) and 40 years old (if he was born in 7 BC, which is the earliest date proposed by scholars) and began his ministry between 32 and 36 years old

We know Jesus was younger than 50 in any case as the gospel itself tells us.

Posted by FM on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 7:49 AM (EDT):

@ Tom

“If the Romans used that method, the fifteenth year of Tiberius would have begun on 18 September, AD 28.”

Indeed. The Romans had no years zero. So Jesus began his ministry either at the end of AD 28 or up to late summer in AD 29.

—

“On the other hand, if the Romans counted by whole consular years, then the first year of Tiberius would have been AD 14, and the fifteenth year would have been AD 28 as a whole.”

I do not think the Jews or even the Romans counted years in that way.

Actually WE do NOT count that way either.

Like when I was doing a PhD and I started in September… in august I would say ‘I am at the end of my X year’ and after September ‘I am in the X+1 year’... and most people counted that way as well.

The counting that takes in account ONLY the “calendar year”... is something quite recent and modern, usually applied to the business world.

For example is a president is elected late in 2014 in 2015 some people might say ‘it’s the second year of his mandate’... however many, if not most, people would still say ‘he’s in the first year of his mandate’ until the first anniversary.

———-

“
The method you seem to be using is not to count AD 14 as any part of Tiberius’ reign, and to count AD 15 as his first regnal year.
“

I think Jimmy is counting it right, although he did not mention Jesus might have begun his ministry in late 28 AD.

Since AT LEAST 3 Passovers are recorded, even if he began in AD 28 AD, AD 30 would be too soon, hence it must be AD 33.

If he began his ministry in late spring/summer 29, after Passover, this would leave 3 Passovers in 30, 31 and 32, leaving the Passover in 33 for the Last Supper one.

Posted by Paul OSF on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 5:54 AM (EDT):

While this alignment of dates is commonly seen within a person’s lifetime, having it line up this exactly hasn’t happened since the 1950’s. It will happen again in 2015.

I often enjoy reading your material, I also have shared this article through my facebook account. Excellent work and God bless.

Posted by Tom Simon on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 2:26 AM (EDT):

There does remain one factor that could influence the calculations: How did the Romans calculate regnal years? In England, for instance, the regnal year of a king begins on the day he officially ascends the throne; so if one became King of England on (say) July 10, his first regnal year would continue until the following July 9. If the Romans used that method, the fifteenth year of Tiberius would have begun on 18 September, AD 28.

On the other hand, if the Romans counted by whole consular years, then the first year of Tiberius would have been AD 14, and the fifteenth year would have been AD 28 as a whole.

On the third hand (will somebody lend me a hand here?), neither the Greeks nor the Jews used the Roman civil calendar, and the Gospels, being written in Greek by Jewish authors, might reasonably have used one or the other. The ‘fifteenth year of Tiberius’ might then mean the fifteenth year, not by Roman consular years (AD 28), but counting from the Greek or Jewish new year, whichever happened to be used.

The method you seem to be using is not to count AD 14 as any part of Tiberius’ reign, and to count AD 15 as his first regnal year. But this would mean that the portion of 14 during which he ruled was his zeroth regnal year — which is against the rules. The Greeks, Romans, and Jews of that period did not even have a zero in their numbering systems.

Leap years do not affect these calculations. I’ve been careful about that.

Glad you like the “Catholic Knowledge Lists”!

More to come!

Your pal,

Jimmy Akin

Posted by T J on Thursday, Apr 11, 2013 12:13 AM (EDT):

Do leap years have a role in the determination? (I still can’t understand how leap years came about.) I’m truly impressed, Mr. Akin, thank you. I learn so much Catholic history, culture, teachings, feast days, Saints, traditions, etc. from your “Catholic Knowledge Lists.” I really do appreciate them, thanks! Mas “Catholic Knowledge” Listas, porfavor! Pronto, gracias.

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About Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant pastor or seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith. Eventually, he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is a Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to This Rock magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."